Miss Hiiragi…is this your dress?
by Sharkey52
Summary: Because whoever said that dress shopping was easy? (Appleshipping with references to Fruitshipping. And Gongenzaka and Sawatari being the single weirdest pair of friends ever)


**A story set in canon about eight years after the show ends. I needed a clerk, so I borrowed a familiar face from the DM series, since Standard is the only dimension that doesn't get any cameos.**

 **Also, Fruitshipping. And Appleshipping. Because I said so.**

* * *

 **Miss Hiiragi…is this your dress?**

Yuzu still found it hard to believe she was in this situation. What had she done in her previous life to deserve this…entourage right now? It had all been going perfectly.

She sighed and leant her head against the window of the car. Her father was in the driver's seat, driving her to their destination. He was problem #1. She thought she'd ditched him when leaving the house that morning. She had tried to trick her father into believing the appointment was tomorrow instead of today and she thought she'd succeeded. Unfortunately, it appeared Yuya had spilled the beans.

The plan had been so simple too.

Step 1. Convince her father the appointment was tomorrow.

Step 2. Sneak out and meet Masumi and Serena at her favourite café.

Step 3. Go to the store and pick out a wedding dress.

However, Masumi and Serena had never shown up. Instead, her father had shown up with a car full of other people. Rin, Yugo, Sawatari and Gongenzaka to be exact.

She had invited Rin too (along with Asuka, Ruri and Yuto, since they were all fairly fashion conscious, but they were all simply too busy to attempt any inter-dimensional travel at the designated time) since she did have some fashion sense. Yuzu had half expected Yugo to come too, since wherever Rin was, Yugo was there and vice versa. Though she had partially hoped that Yugo wouldn't come because they were shopping and Yugo hated shopping. Gongenzaka had probably been guilted into it by her father, since he was a close family friend. Yuzu still hadn't figured out exactly why Sawatari was here.

Looking through the rear view mirror, she could see Sawatari sitting in the middle with Gongenzaka, arms crossed over his chest. His expression was somewhat annoyed because Yugo and Gongenzaka sandwiched him. Both Rin and Yugo had insisted on sitting on the window side so that left him and Gongenzaka sandwiched together in the middle of a back seat intended only to seat three and certainly not someone Gongenzaka's size. Yuzu didn't particularly _want_ Sawatari there, not just because their relationship hadn't improved much since they were teenagers, but also because she figured that he had no knowledge about wedding dresses at all.

"Oh Yuzu!~" Her father sang cheerily as he drove his car rather erratically in his excitement "I can't wait to see you in a wedding dress! You have no idea how proud it makes your dear old dad!"

Yuzu rolled her eyes. "You would've seen me wearing it on my wedding day anyway."

Her father shook his head, making sounds of disagreements. "Just seeing you in one isn't enough! I have to see you in _all_ the wedding dresses in the world!"

Yuzu glared at her father with a deadpan expression. "That would take years. It's not that easy to put on a wedding dress you know…."

She sighed. She had been looking forward to this day so much. It wasn't easy to get an appointment with this particular bridal boutique. Cancelling the appointment because Serena and Masumi didn't show up was out of the question. There was no way in hell that she could get a new appointment before her wedding day.

"Cheer up Yuzu" said a reassuring feminine voice from behind her. She twisted her body to look at the back seat where Rin was shooting her a friendly and comforting smile which calmed her a little. "I'm sure if we pool our efforts, we can find something nice for you."

Yuzu sighed softly. Rin was right. Masumi and Serena wouldn´t be that much help anyway. Masumi would flatly turn down every dress that didn't consist purely of rhinestones and Serena would probably break something in frustration if Masumi didn't agree with her. Perhaps it was a safer option not bringing them along. Which left her with her current company.

Out of the four of them, her father would be most useless since he would probably just love her in every dress. Sawatari was honest about his opinions, to his credit, but a little too honest sometimes. She swore to all deities in existence, if he said she looked fat in one of the dresses, she would go ballistic. Rin and Gongenzaka would voice their honest opinions and she wasn't quite sure about Yugo. She expected him to whine a fair bit, maybe say she looked good in everything too, but maybe Rin would keep him quiet. It was most likely Rin dragging him along, making sure she wasn't alone in this. At least they weren't stupid enough to bring Yuya along too.

Yuzu opened her mouth to thank Rin for reassuring her, but Yugo´s loud voice interrupted her.

"Rin look at this!" He proclaimed in excitement as he leaned over and held out his phone for Rin to look at.

"Show me!" Rin said, just as cheerful as Yugo.

Yuzu found herself laughing. Rin was something else. One moment she was comforting Yuzu, the next moment she was completely sidetracked by Yugo. The two were pretty much sitting on Gongenzaka lap as they looked at the video on the phone, Sawatari squished by the other bodies in the car even more. A soft thump sounded as Sawatari finally lost his patience and a fist connected with Yugo's head, a second one just missing Rin's.

"Hey, you guys wanted to sit at the window side so badly! Stay there!" He yelled, trying to get his breath back after the tight squeeze. He sat up and proclaimed to the front of the car: "I call shotgun on the way back!"

Gongenzaka didn't say anything, but he looked relieved that the squeezing was over also.

The bridal shop, thankfully, wasn't too far from the café. They arrived and Shuzo found a nice parking space near the door. Everyone got out of the car and Yugo scanned the area.

"Why did we stop?" He asked, confusion etched on his face as he turned to the group.

"We've arrived to the shop?" Yuzu told him, unsure of her own answer. They were standing in front of the shop, so why was he so confused?

Yugo hummed in thought and looked around again.

"But I don't see any parts shops…." he remarked thoughtfully as he stood on his tiptoes to try and look into the distance.

A sheepish laugh brought their attention to Rin. She was laughing nervously as she curled a lock of hair around her finger.

"Yugo, I may have forgotten to mention that we weren't going to shop for Duel Runner parts" she informed him to clear up the confusion. Shopping for the two usually meant shopping for Duel Monster cards or Duel Runner parts.

"S-So you mean…." Yugo looked utterly mortified as realisation dawned on him.

"We're here to shop for Yuzu's wedding dress!" Shuzo cheered as he skipped to the entrance of the shop. He looked so happy, Yuzu almost felt bad for trying to ditch him.

Almost.

Gongenzaka and Sawatari just followed her father to the entrance, Sawatari complaining about aching joints, with Yuzu in tow. Rin was pulling a struggling Yugo behind her.

"I don't want to go!" he whined "Dresses are boring!"

"Yugo, this is for Yuzu" Rin reminded him "Yuzu's your best friend and you're doing something nice for her."

"I don't care!" Yugo protested, sticking his tongue out at her "I hate clothes shopping!"

Rin sighed and leaned over to Yugo. She started whispering something into his ear and it immediately calmed Yugo down. Yugo's usually innocent baby-blue eyes darkened. An uncharacteristic smirk crept up onto his lips. Rin moved away with the same kind of smirk.

"You better go through with it" he told her, striding over to where the rest stood with a self-satisfied swagger in his step.

"You bet I will" Rin promised him.

Now that they were a complete group, they entered the shop. Immediately a woman dressed for the profession greeted them. She had brown shoulder length hair, bangs framing her face and kind, brown eyes. She wore a simple red tank top, black skirt and black heels, which Yuzu fondly recalled was very similar to a colour swapped version of the outfit she liked to wear as a teenager.

"Good afternoon, are you Miss Yuzu Hiiragi?" She asked.

Yuzu nodded, stepping forward. "Yes, that's me."

The woman smiled and clapped once with her hands. "Great, I've been expecting you. Would you please follow me, then we can get started."

She smiled and gestured for them to follow her with her hands. Yuzu and her entourage followed the lady to a section of the shop cornered off from the rest by rows of hanging wedding dresses, containing a catwalk, a big mirror and two sofas.

"Please take a seat" She offered, her hand outstretched to the sofas.

The sofas looked nice and fluffy and inviting. The group didn't hesitate as everyone took a seat, their attention on the woman who seemed far too patient to work in any other profession. As soon as everyone was ready, she started her introduction.

"First of all we would like to thank you for choosing to consult our bridal boutique for your wedding dress" she introduced herself "My name is Anzu and I will be your consultant today. Could you tell me about the people you brought with you today?"

Yuzu had no problems with that.

"I brought my father; not by my own choice unfortunately" she introduced her father as she pointed at him "My half-sister and her boyfriend. One uninvited." She now waved at Rin and Yugo, using the usual cover story presented when the girls were in one place at a time. "Then there's an old school friend of mine." Now she introduced Gongenzaka, then looking at Sawatari. "And this guy. He's my fiancé's friend. I still haven't figured out why he is here exactly…but whatever."

Anzu was a little taken aback from the strangest introduction she was sure she'd ever heard. "Okay...and what about your fiancé?"

"Oh. Uh, well I've known him since we were kids" she started, wondering how much she should say. Her's and Yuya's story was hardly ordinary.

"Oh so you're childhood sweethearts!" Anzu interrupted with enthusiasm.

Noticing she cut Yuzu off, she slapped her hand against her mouth and laughed in apology. Yuzu chuckled as well.

"Not really – we didn't even consider dating for the longest time" she remarked "We didn't get together until…well, we went through a…traumatic period. It reminded us just how important we were to each other. We made sure not to waste any time we had together after that." She let out a little sigh. "I found out that he is quite the romantic, he makes me laugh and is very sweet."

Anzu giggled and nodded her head, indicating she was listening. It was procedure to ask the bride-to-be about her fiancé, venue and the silhouette she had in mind to pick out the perfect dress for her.

"And he doesn't wash his hands when he goes to the toilet!" Sawatari felt the need to chip in.

Yuzu turned to glare at him, already feeling things spiralling out of control. She was perfectly aware of Yuya's bad habits and she didn't need reminding of them on such a special day.

"And he never takes his shoes off when he walks into someone else's house!" Gongenzaka added.

Yuzu sighed with great aggravation, balling her hands into fists.

"Oooh! And he has his catchphrase!" Yugo cheered.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! THE FUN HAS JUST BEGUN!" the five of them, including Yuzu's father, cheered.

Yuzu had closed her eyes shut and was pinching the bridge of her nose.

Anzu couldn't help but laugh. This was quite the lively bunch. That made a nice change from the usual.

"Good to know, good to know" she said with a jovial tone. The glee of these people was infecting her as well.

Yuzu let go of the bridge of her nose and shot Anzu a sheepish smile.

"Let's carry on, we still have a lot to do. Can you tell me anything about the venue?" Anzu asked.

"We were thinking a small place, up in the mountains" Yuzu explained "We've only got about twenty or so people coming."

At least, that's what she'd told Yuya when she put him in charge of the guest list. It was probably up to thirty now.

Reiji had found them a grand hall suitable for a wedding nearby in the mountains, as it was agreed by all of them to hold the ceremony outside of Maiami City. It would be more private, but they also had multiple people from different dimensions coming, and it would be less suspicious if they teleported into a small mountain village than the middle of the continent's major city. Not to mention the serenity of the calm mountain air would hopefully keep any potentially dangerous fights between dimensions to a bare minimum.

"That's nice" Anzu commented, nodding along politely "So tell me, did you have a dress in mind and what's your budget?"

Yuzu leaned back into her seat and crossed her legs.

"I want it to be pristine white, anything is okay except for satin and I don't want it to be too flashy" she explained. She wanted something plain, but not plain that it looked like she was wearing a table cloth to her wedding. "My budget is £1000."

"Preposterous!" her father shouted out, jumping up "My Yuzu needs the flashiest dress you have!" He sang out as he stretched out his arms. "Sparkles! Rhinestones! Lace! Glitter! Satin!"

Yuzu's hand moved to her forehead by itself. God, if only she had a fan…

Anzu laughed and grabbed Yuzu's hand, pulling her out of the chair.

"Let's start picking some out together" she told her as she pulled her along into the aisles of dresses.

Yuzu nodded, leaving the five others alone in the cornered-off room.

"So…are we done?" Yugo asked excitedly.

"Yugo, we haven't even started yet" Rin answered.

Yugo pouted and sunk back in his seat.

Gongenzaka then spoke up for the first time. "Mr Hiiragi, I have been wondering…what happened to Masumi and Serena?"

"O-oh… they're… hehehe…." Shuzo let out some awkward chuckles "I may have called them and given them the wrong address for the boutique…"

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in Tampah City…_

"Goddammit!" Masumi yelled, dragging Serena along the main street "Where the hell is this place?"

"This is _your_ dimension!" Serena complained "You should know!"

* * *

Yuzu browsed the dresses together with the help of Anzu. The brunette knew what she was doing and had picked out a few dresses that Yuzu liked. They were exactly what she wanted. Not too flashy, but still looking like a wedding dress. She picked out two dresses on her own as well and they went into the changing room. Knowing she would have to try on dresses, she had dressed into something she could slip into and out of with ease. Just a hoody and a skirt. She had also worn a strapless bra so the dresses would look better.

"Interesting people you've brought" Anzu commented as she helped Yuzu into the first dress.

Yuzu laughed as she held the dress in place while Anzu tied the strings on the back. "Tell me about it. I invited only one of them. I suppose it could be worse though – I don't think any of them would try to sabotage me or anything."

Sawatari's face flashed in front of her mind for a second, but she frowned and pushed it away.

"Let's show them the dress" Anzu saw with a bright smile.

Yuzu found herself smiling from ear-to-ear. This was the first time she's ever worn a real wedding dress.

Nodding, she followed the brunette back into the room where her friends were waiting. She walked up the catwalk and looked into the mirror. The dress didn't wow her, but it was still pretty good looking nonetheless. It was a good place to start. After having a good look at herself, she turned around so her peers could have a better look.

Her father was already taking pictures with his camera.

Sawatari's eyes had widened and his mouth had fallen open a little in shock.

Gongenzaka looked like he was about to cry; he had watched this little girl grow up into a young woman and now she was wearing a white dress. He was starting to feel a little nostalgic.

Rin's look was approving, arms crossed over her chest, humming noises of approval.

Yugo just looked bored and uninterested.

"What do you think?" Anzu asked, turning to the group of spectators.

Shuzo lowered his camera and shook his head. "While everything suits my Yuzu, it's not… extravagant enough."

Rin nodded in agreement.

"I think it's perfect! Let's buy it and get the hell out of here! I want cards and motorcycles dammit!" Yugo roared.

This earned him a hand slapped over his mouth. Rin shushed him with a harsh tone, her cheeks tinted red with embarrassment.

"When we get home" Rin whispered. Since the attention was on them and the room was deadly silent, everyone heard the whisper anyways. Rin blushed and ducked her head. "L-Let's continue."

"It suits you nicely, Yuzu" Gongenzaka said to try and get this under control again. Yuzu was happy that there was at least one sane person in the room. She smiled and nodded at him, appreciating that he was controlling the situation.

Sawatari just kinda shrugged like he wasn't bothered, but she hadn't expected much from him.

"What do you think?" Anzu asked, happy that the attention was on the dress again.

"I like it, but I still want to see more" Yuzu told her.

The dress was pristine white like she wanted; it was formfitting with a sweetheart neckline. But it was strapless, which she didn't like. She didn't feel like pulling up the dress so everyone wouldn't see her two ladies the whole way through the ceremony. That would put a real damper on her big day.

"That's okay, we have three more to try on" Anzu reassured her, helping Yuzu down the catwalk.

Yugo groaned loudly, lying back in his seat, already bored.

"Uhm…." Shuzo interrupted. Anzu and Yuzu both stopped, looking at the father of the soon-to-be-bride. "You have _seventeen_ more dresses to try."

Yugo groaned even louder, earning him a slap on the back of his head from Rin. Sawatari also looked upset at the idea of being stuck here for that long.

Yuzu's eyes widened as her eyes followed her father's finger to a huge pile of dresses still in their protective bags.

"I picked out some more while you were changing" he explained.

Yuzu couldn't believe it. He picked all this in the ten minute lapse that she was gone?

She walked over to them. The first one had already confirmed her fears.

"Just what exactly is this supposed to cover?" she demanded, holding up a dress. The whole torso was pretty much see through, except for the breast area. White silk draped down from below the waist.

"But you have such a beautiful body Yuzu! Show them what they never will have!"

The bride-to-be groaned, acknowledging he was at least trying to be helpful, which was more than some of the others were doing, and browsed through the rest of the dresses her father had picked out. Most of them were either too revealing or too grand for her. One she found quite nice. She picked that one out of the pile and handed it to Anzu.

"Put the rest back where they belong" she ordered him as she returned to the dressing room with Anzu.

"Your father is quite the character" Anzu laughed as she untied the laces that kept the dress up.

"He's trying to be helpful, as usual" Yuzu sighed with exasperation "I tried to ditch him, but he somehow found out about that and most likely mislead my friends so he could bring his own little minions."

She stepped out of the first dress, Anzu placing the dress back into its bag as Yuzu clothed herself in the next one.

Anzu stepped back from Yuzu when the change was done. "Ready to go?"

Yuzu nodded and they both walked out onto the catwalk. The dress was nice, but it made her feel old. She didn't know why she even bothered to turn around, seeing as her father's opinions were all useless and Yugo and Sawatari were completely uninterested in this. She looked at them with expectation.

"Yuzu that dress makes you look fa-"

"Fabulous!"

Yuzu glared at Sawatari. He better not have said what she thought he was going to say. Nice save Gongenzaka.

Rin looked at Yuzu with a nervous smile, looking like she was trying to find something positive to say and just couldn't. Yugo blew a hair out of his face, arms folded as he stared at Yuzu with a sulky look.

Yuzu returned to look into the mirror. She was thin, no arguing about that, however the dress was a little too small and was tight. It made what little fat she had in her body still spill out a little.

"Let's change" she demanded, a little moody now, stepping off of the catwalk.

Anzu didn't argue and followed.

While the two women returned to the dressing room, Rin grabbed Yugo's wrist and dragged him out of the store, leaving just in time to miss Gongenzaka frantically explaining to Sawatari the merits of not calling women fat verses doing so.

"Yugo you're being childish" she reprimanded her boyfriend.

"Well you lied to me!" Yugo spat back "If you told me what we were really doing I would've stayed at home!"

"I didn't lie to you…just…withheld information" Rin insisted. She tried to be nonchalant, but Yugo's glares were getting to her. She sighed, leaning against the wall. "Look, I know this isn't your most favourite activity, but this is really important for Yuzu. She would really appreciate the opinion of one of her most beloved friends. If I said we were dress shopping, you would never have come."

Yugo's shoulders slumped. Yuzu had been one of his best friends since they were teenagers after all.

"Fine" he sighed "But the deal still stands."

Rin beamed, slipping her hand into Yugo's and intertwining their fingers.

"Of course it does" she replied, pressing her lips softly unto Yugo's.

After that, they went back to the others, walking hand in hand.

"Yuzu isn't back yet?" Rin asked as there was no sight of either her nor Anzu.

Gongenzaka shook his head. Rin and Yugo sat back down, Yugo leaning his head on Rin's shoulder. They waited and waited but still the two women hadn't returned. They were getting a little impatient. Usually it took less than ten minutes for them to return but they had definitely been waiting twenty minutes now. Rin had already gotten up and left to find a bathroom, they'd been waiting so long.

"Do you think something happened?" Gongenzaka asked as he looked in the direction of the dressing room.

As Yugo and Shuzo looked at each other in alarm, Sawatari stood up. Without saying a word, he went into the direction Anzu and Yuzu had returned to a little while ago.

"Sawatari?" Gongenzaka inquired as to what he was doing, but Sawatari didn't react. Certainly didn't reply.

He found the door they had disappeared into. Without much thought, he opened the door.

Without warning, the room brightening up more that the flimsy lamp could ever hope to brighten it. Anzu and Yuzu's attention immediately went to the door.

"What's taking so long in here?" Sawatari asked, a little annoyed. Yes, he had agreed with Mr Hiiragi before they picked up Yuzu that he would give her his honest opinion. He had not agreed to be patient. The fact that Yuzu was just wearing her underwear didn't affect him at all – he'd seen plenty of girls in such a state. Granted, less than he would've liked.

The entire store and most likely the whole street and some further away as well, heard the banshee scream that followed.

"Get out!" Yuzu threw the most deadly article within reach, a shoe, at his face.

Sawatari's eyes widened and he dodged it the nick of time. The shoe hit the wall and the heel snapped off. Sawatari got the message and returned to the sofa, saying nothing as passed the sofas and strode off into the main part of the store.

"What happened?" Shuzo asked, alarmed that his daughter screamed.

"Just Yuzu being a woman" Sawatari remarked as he passed the rows of dresses away from the catwalk.

"Don't let her hear you say that" Yugo said with a light chuckle whilst Gongenzaka frown disapprovingly.

A few minutes later and with the return of Rin and Sawatari, Yuzu and Anzu returned in a new gown, Yuzu flustered and Anzu awkward. This sure was a different kind of appointment than she usually dealt with. This ought to be broadcast on TV.

Yuzu enjoyed this dress. It was nice and plain. The top was completely plain and the underside had ruffles. The neckline was still too deep and she didn't want to show too much cleavage. She turned around, glared at Sawatari first and smiled at the others.

"What you think?" she asked.

Her father was practically fangirling. Gongenzaka nodded in approval; his friend looked good and happy in it. Rin looked thoughtful while Yugo smiled at her, giving her a thumbs up.

Could this be her dress?

She looked at Sawatari and oh god his arms were behind his back. He was hiding something. She had been gone quite a while, who knows what he found. Perhaps this was some sort of revenge for the shoe? In which case, it could be anything.

"What are you hiding?" she half-hissed at him.

Sawatari looked innocent as he stood up and walked over to the girl. It wasn't a dress he was hiding behind him, otherwise it would've showed either side of him. She could see from the corner of her eye that Yugo and Rin's eyes had widened with alarm.

Oh dear god, what was he planning?

"You see Yuzu…the wedding dress is important for a wedding indeed" He started as he circled her, still keeping what he had hidden behind his back. "What's more important though…" He stood next to her. "It's what's under!"

He smirked conniving, holding something out in front of her.

Yugo had jumped onto Rin lap. Her father's eyes rolled into his head as he fainted, flopping down onto the sofa next to Gongenzaka, who was holding onto the sofa cushion with a death grip. She hadn't seen an expression of such fear on him in a long time. Finally she decided to look down, she saw what it was that Sawatari was holding in front of her.

She nearly had an aneurism.

It was lingerie. Not those meant to just cover up. Oh no. These covered next to nothing. It even had an open crotch.

"I'm sure Yuya will be _very_ happy with these" He said with sparkles in his eyes.

That conniving little… This _was_ revenge for the shoe.

Yuzu could honestly kill him.

She was speechless. She didn't know what to say, so she did what first came to mind.

She socked him right in the jaw.

The force from the blow made Sawatari stagger back, trip off of the catwalk and fall onto the linoleum floor. While her latest tormentor groaned in pain, Yuzu stepped off, going back to the dressing room, Anzu following. There was one rule all consultants had to abide to. The bride is always right.

"I could _murder_ that guy!" Yuzu gritted her teeth "Why the hell did my father even bring him along?"

"This is a no-go, then?" Anzu asked, untying the bindings that kept the dress in place.

Yuzu sighed. "I really liked this one too. But that moron traumatised me."

Anzu laughed lightly, hanging up the trauma dress and picking out the next one. She paused.

"Do you want to try this one now?" She asked as she showed the clothing bag to the bride-to-be. "It is the one your father picked out; it's also over your budget."

Yuzu bit her lip. Maybe this dress had some hidden 'trap' that she wasn't seeing. She was pretty sick of her entourage trying to help her out by now.

"I'm not sure…." She admitted, glancing at the dresses she had yet to try. In all honesty, she kind of wanted this to be done and over with.

"There's nothing wrong with trying it on now… if you really don't like it, we can just take it off right now and not show the others" Anzu suggested.

This wasn't the first time it had happened. The bride would find their dress where they least expected it.

"Alright" Yuzu agreed.

Anzu smiled as she zipped open the bag, pulling out the dress. Having it on her, Yuzu felt… right. She looked in the mirror. Just a little bit of cleavage showed, which she didn't mind too much. The back wasn't too low and the fabric wasn't transparent, like she had expected it to be.

"I actually really like it" she said in awe, looking at herself in the mirror.

Finally, she felt like a bride.

"Shall we ask what the others think?" Anzu asked, opening the door so Yuzu could go into the main room.

She lifted up her dress as she stepped onto the catwalk. She felt like one of the princesses from her childhood movies. She looked into the mirror again, a smile forming on her lips. Sure she had just seen it, but this room was much brighter and the mirror was bigger.

"What do you guys think?" Yuzu asked with a huge smile on her face.

The smile immediately fell as she saw that her father was still apparently passed out on the sofa from Sawatari's little revenge gag and only Yugo and Rin were on the other sofa, locked in the middle of an intense make out session.

Why did she still hope?

Yuzu cleared her throat to get the attention of the two lovers, a blush on her face. Yes, these were two of her best friends, but she didn't particularly enjoy seeing them in such a state. Such things were meant to be private in her opinion.

Rin was first to react, pushing Yugo off of her, her cheeks also tinted pink.

"Sorry, Yugo seduced me" Rin apologised in shame.

Yuzu blinked. In less than ten minutes? Was Yugo that good or was Rin just weak? Shaking her head to clear her mind of...images, she looked back at the two conscious people still in the room.

"Where are Gongenzaka and He-I-Would-Gladly-Punch-Again?" she asked, already growing suspicious.

Yugo leaned back, unhappy that Yuzu had disturbed his special time with Rin.

"Gongenzaka took Sawatari to get some ice for his jaw" he answered, grinning towards Rin, making the other blush again.

"Oh" Yuzu replied. Well that makes sense. She then turned back to look into the mirror. "So… what do you guys think?"

Rin finally got over her own embarrassment and noticed the new dress.

"Wow" she breathed out in awe.

"Yuzu, I don't understand this stuff…" Yugo claimed "But this looks amazing on you!"

He gave her two thumbs up. This pleased the bride; getting such a reaction out of these two meant a lot. Only the opinions of her father, Gongenzaka and Sawatari were left.

She sat down for a little while, waiting for them but her father was still unconscious and the two wanders hadn't returned yet.

"I'll go look for them" Yuzu offered as she stood up, fed up with waiting "Watch my dad in case he wakes up, ok?"

Maybe Sawatari was looking for embarrassing stuff again. Had he roped Gongenzaka into helping him somehow?

Looking around for a little while, she couldn't spot either man. It was getting a little frustrating. She sighed and leaned against the wall, trying to figure out where her friend and his friend could be. She was a little furious too. First Sawatari sabotages her appointment by traumatising her and now he runs of somewhere.

Maybe… she had done some serious damage?

Yuzu gasped with mortification at the thought. Could Gongenzaka maybe have taken him to a hospital? What if she dislocated his jaw? Or even broken something? She may not like Sawatari all that much, but she still had no right to cause any permanent damage to him. Yuya would be so upset if she did something to one of his closest friends.

In a panic, she took a wrong turn and entered the six rows of dresses opposite of her consultant's room. The mistake went unnoticed as she was in a hurry to get to her phone in her purse so she could call and see if the man she'd formerly wished death upon was indeed alright.

"I just don't think it suits her at all. It's too…ruffley."

"That's not even a word! Besides, she's long-sighted. If we just show her it really close to her face, then she won't even notice, right?"

Hearing the two familiar voices, Yuzu pushed aside some dresses in their bags on a rack to see through to the next row where she could hear the voices, intent on giving them both a piece of her mind.

She paused, stunned.

Of all the things she expected, she didn't expect to see Sawatari holding up two dresses, one pretty much against his body, out of their protective bags, Gongenzaka holding another one and looking like he was seriously mulling them over.

Okay…what?

"Yuzu!" Gongenzaka noticed her first, a mortified look on her face "This isn't what it looks like!"

"Yeah, sure" Yuzu's brain was so fried from the shock she couldn't come up with a witty retort "I'm just gonna…go. And leave you guys to…whatever you're doing."

"Sayaka asked us to pick a bridesmaid dress for her!" Sawatari insisted.

That was…slightly believable. Just slightly.

Yuzu could only think of one response. "Bridesmaid dresses are over by the back."

Leaving the boys to consider that, Yuzu re-entered the correct part of the store, only to be greeted with expectant looks from Anzu, Yugo and Rin.

"I didn't see anything" she said with no emotion as she sat back down in the chair.

Yugo and Rin looked at each other. That was very unlike Yuzu. The colour had drained from her face and she looked stiff like a board. Kind of as if she had seen a ghost, but worse.

"Did my father wake up?" she asked with just as much emotion, noticing her father appeared to be still unconscious.

"For a short time" Rin explained "But he just screamed for a second and then fainted again."

An awkward silence fell over the group again.

"L-Let's just wait a few more minutes" Anzu suggested to try and clear up this weird atmosphere that had befallen them when Yuzu returned "We'll try on more dresses."

"No need to worry, we are here" Gongenzaka announced as he and Sawatari entered the room again from behind the rows of dresses.

Sawatari was carrying a bag, presumably containing a dress, over his arm.

"We're taking this one too" he announced.

"About time" Yuzu muttered, before loudly announcing "What do you think? Next one?"

"I think you should take this one, Yuzu" Rin butted in, standing up and walking towards her "Look, at different angles, these stones give off different colours."

She pointed out the rhinestones that adorned the top of the dress. Yuzu followed Rin's finger and saw that what she said was indeed true. The stones glittered in different colours whenever she moved a little.

"I concur" Gongenzaka nodded "I think you look very beautiful, Yuzu. I believe Yuya will be overjoyed."

"Meh, I've seen you in worse" Sawatari shrugged, which Yuzu took to be some kind of compliment.

"Yuzu!" The five people looked up to see Shuzo had awoken "That dress!"

Shuzo looked so touched, his eyes were shining, as if he was about to cry. It was indeed one of the dresses he had chosen. It had the rhinestone adorned top; underside was from tulle which was plain since there was too much going on at the top. The waistline was nice and snug, bringing out her figure quite nicely, which was also adorned with rhinestones. It brought the dress together.

"You look absolutely gorgeous" Yugo agreed, grinning brightly "I mean, not as gorgeous as my Rin Rin of course, but—OW!" Rin elbowed him in the gut, hard. "I was gonna say she looked great! Geez!"

Yuzu felt tears pricking at her eyes. Turning back to the mirror, she could almost see herself walking down the aisle with this dress.

"There's just one thing" Yuzu remarked, looking towards Anzu "I hate that it's strapless."

"No problem" Anzu declared with a smile.

She left the room and returned quickly, a white fabric in her hands.

"All designers supply some extra fabric with of the dress, in case any modifications need to be done" she told her as she held the white fabric over Yuzu's shoulder.

Like Anzu had said, it was indeed the same fabric as the dress. The strap just…didn't fit.

"How about this?" Yugo suggested all a sudden, jumping up onto the catwalk and lowering the strap a little so it hung over her shoulder.

"I-It's perfect!" Yuzu was understandably astonished. Yugo has shocked the whole room by finding the solution.

"H-How?" Rin asked, staring at Yugo like he'd grown a second head.

Yugo just shrugged. "The dress you wore for the Friendship Ball was like that."

Well, that made sense.

"There's just one little issue" Anzu announced, biting her lip "This dress exceeds your budget. This dress is £1500."

It was £500 over her budget. That wasn't a small amount of difference.

Yuzu's face fell. She was never even planning on spending of the £1000 she had budgeted for the dress.

"It's quite alright. I'll pay the rest" Gongenzaka stated, arms crossed over his chest "Yuzu, this is dress made for you."

Yugo grinned, wrapping his arm around Rin's shoulder. "We'll pitch in too! We may not have a lot of money, but anything for a friend, right?"

All gazes now turned to Sawatari, who looked instantly affronted.

"Oh, no way in hell!" he swore, gesturing to the dress he was already carrying "I already have to pay for this one!"

"Sawatari" Gongenzaka frowned at him "You surely don't want to be responsible for ruining Yuya's big day because you refused to chip in a little bit of money? He would be very disappointed."

Sawatari glared at him, but he was clearly wracked with indecision. He may not be the biggest fan of Yuzu, but Yuya was pretty much the only one who'd ever taken a chance on him, and the idea that he'd be responsible for ruining the best day of Yuya's life…

Damn it.

"Fine, whatever, I'll help out too" he scowled.

Tears rolled down Yuzu's cheeks as she realised just how amazing her friends were, even if they made her life a living hell sometimes. She jumped off of the catwalk and hugged her four friends. Sawatari initially stepped back, but Gongenzaka quickly pulled him in too. Her father too joined the hug.

Anzu waited patiently for the friends to have their sentimental moment.

"Now, now Yuzu" Shuzo laughed as he gently pulled his daughter away from the rest "You don't want tears and make up on your new wedding dress now do you?"

He wiped away a dark-grey coloured teardrop.

With a napkin handed to her by Yugo, she cleaned her face and looked into the mirror again. Yes, this was perfect.

"So, Miss Hiiragi…is this your dress?" Anzu asked, knowing the answer all too well.

"Yes!" She said with mirth in her voice.

Everyone in the room applauded while Anzu and Yuzu went back to the dressing room to get her out of the dress. When Yuzu reemerged, she was wearing her regular clothes and had fixed her make-up. Anzu had bagged the dress and carried it to the tailor. Like they had said, everyone pitched in – albeit with some squabbling over the exact amounts they had to provide – and Yuzu even had some money left for things like shoes, a tiara and a veil. She even had enough left after paying for the heel she broke off the shoe she threw at Sawatari.

Despite being highly sceptical at first, she was happy that Rin, Yugo, Sawatari and Gongenzaka had come along; she was glad that even her father had come. Without him, she wouldn't have been able to find her dress. The seamstress was going to do some size adjustments and add the straps and then she could pick it up.

"I told you she'd be upset when we got caught" Gongenzaka told Sawatari as they headed out to the car.

Sawatari scoffed, glancing down at the bridesmaid dress he'd paid for in its protective bag. "Well where else were we going to find bridesmaid dresses? That's the only reason we came along, right?"

Gongenzaka looked over his shoulder at Yuzu, who was grinning from ear-to-ear. If she thought that Gongenzaka and Sawatari had ulterior motives for coming along, she certainty didn't appear to show it.

"The bride is happy" he commented "That is all that matters."


End file.
